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RESEARCH

In the research section you will find out about my various research studies. My main field, and the one my PhD focused on, is person–organisation fit. This subject focuses on the relationships between employees and employers and how this influences employees' behaviour. My particular interests are on employees' perceptions of their fit and the way this influences their actions. My current organisational fit studies are looking at:

  1. the nature of employees' perceptions of fit
  2. the antecedents and consequences of misfit
  3. ways to use the concept of fit as a way of monitoring the psychological health of organisations
  4. how organisations can recruit and select people based on their anticipated fit

My other organisational psychology research interests are in the fields of recruitment and selection and leadership. I have ongoing studies in each area. In both domains, my main focus is on employees' experience. For example, I am looking at how applicants and recruiters experience the process of recruitment and selection and the impact this has on outcomes. In leadership, I take a socially-constructed approach and look at how people perceive the leaders they follow.

Over the past couple of years my research interests are increasingly in the area of management education. My main interest is looking at how film - feature films, student-shot films, movie stills and other photographic material - might be used in the teaching of management education. I published a paper explaining how the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory could be used to teach recruitment and selection. I recently edited a book with my co-editors Julie Charlesworth and Pauline Leonard called Moving Images in which many of the most prominent management educators in the world who advocate the use of film in the classroom explain how this can be done effectively. I am also in the middle of a massive data gathering exercise involving the analysis of more than 800 films. The purpose of this data gathering is to provide the material for a new book looking at different aspects of the cinematic portrayal of recruitment and selection. An emerging area of interest for me is how we assess whether new teaching methods are effective or not. And finally, I'm looking at how accreditation pressures are influencing the behaviour of business schools.

My PhD/DBA students are looking at:

  1. links between person–organisation fit and organisational performance (Patrick Nelson)
  2. person–network fit as an improvement on person–organisation fit (Steve Godrich) 
  3. the nature of misfit (Brenda Hollyoak)
  4. Australian managers' perceptions of doing business in China (Ruby Ma)
  5. Work-life balance perceptions across the life cycle and implications for organizations (Maureen Blane-Brown)